We planted one Gregg’s Mist Flower in the front garden. We tried a different variety of mist flower previously, but they didn’t take well, and didn’t attract butterflies. These are growing well and nearly every time I walk by, I see a butterfly! Hurray!
I believe the butterfly visiting in the photo is a Painted Lady butterfly.
Time to start watching the roads for migrating turtles! Really, I always watch out for turtles, but spring and fall are the big moving days. Turtles are creatures of habit and go back and forth between sites cyclically. I have read that moving a turtle outside their known stomping grounds could send the reptile into a lifelong circle of trying to find its way home. I don’t know if it is true, but it is heart wrenching to think about. Herpetologists recommend not removing the animal from the area, and if it is in physical danger (road, cars), move it straight across the road in the direction it was headed. Here is some good advice from the US Fish and Wildlife site.
We have a turtle that crosses our property. We have seen it on the trail cam, and on occasion it makes its way under our fence and into the yard. This year the dogs found it first, and after I took them inside and let the turtle have some time to move on, I found that it had cornered itself behind the catio. Hm.
Since I wasn’t about to take the turtle through the house, I put it outside the fence near where the dogs found it. My eldest watched it for a time, but the turtle knew it was being watched and didn’t move. We gave it space for about twenty minutes, and when we checked, it was gone. Like, gone, gone, can’t find it anywhere. It is amazing how far they can go when they are on a mission.
By the way, I have “stop for turtles” vinyl decals on my Etsy shop. Yup, I’m that kind of person.
I checked the trail cam again and saw the usual complement of possum, raccoon, bird, and cat pictures. The bonus shot was of the resident gray fox. Of the cat pictures, there were two with un-tipped ears. Sigh.
I was fixing a leak in the watering drip system in the front garden when I spotted a rolly polly with green markings! I’ve seen the dark gray common pill bugs, I’ve even seen these terrestrial crustaceans half light gray and half dark gray, but I haven’t seen these markings before, like they were painted with ritual paint. Neat.
I found a crane fly resting on my door wreath.
It is spring, so there are crane flies every where. The first year I moved to Texas I was alarmed at the size of the “mosquitos”, until I found out that these long-legged beasties are not blood suckers. Most varieties only live in the adult stage for about a week; long enough to look for a mate to make new crane flies, but not long enough to bother about eating.
I am most impressed that the wreath has held up. I made it last year and it stayed on the front door for many months. The paper flowers are just wired in, so I can reuse the grapevine wreath, but it looked so good when I pulled it out of the closer that I just hung it back up. Where it hangs there is no direct sunlight, and it is sheltered from wind and rain.
Critters and Craft 